Heartbroken Mom Implores Lawmakers To Lower Legal Blood Alcohol Limit
WADING RIVER, NY — On the day that marked 1,591 long days since Alisa and John McMorris of Wading River lost their son, Andrew — Andrew was killed by a drunk driver while out hiking with his Boy Scout troop in Manorville in 2018 — the heartbroken parents traveled with others to Albany to advocate for lowering the legal blood alcohol limit in New York from .08 to .05.
On Tuesday, state Sen. John Liu and Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon joined with New York City Department of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez, legislators, Mothers Against Drunk Driving representatives, the National Transportation Safety Board, and transportation advocates from around the nation to call for New York State to lower the legal BAC.
Their legislation, S776 (Liu) and A1627 (Simon) would make New York the second state in the nation to lower its DWI threshold to .05 BAC, officials said.
"In 2019, Utah lowered its threshold to .05 BAC and saw its drunk driving deaths reduced by nearly 20 percent while rates around the rest of the nation increased," a release said. "The National Highway Traffic Safety Association recommends every state lower their BAC to .05 as each year nearly 10,000 people are killed in crashes involving alcohol-impaired drivers, and nearly 173,000 are injured. Other states, including Washington and Hawaii, are also preparing legislation to lower the legal BAC to .05," the release from Simon's office said.
Studies have shown that lowering legal BAC limits does not lead to an increase in arrests or a burden on the criminal justice system, nor does it cause undue damage to the hospitality industry. In fact, a new Utah study showed state revenues from taxes continue to rise, and tourism increase, Simon said.
For the McMorris family, including Andrew's sister Arianna, the blanket of grief is heavy. They have carried on in their son's name, "parenting his legacy," and are fighting to make sure no other family ever has to live with the agony of an empty chair or Christmas stocking, of a life cut short before all the milestone moments could ever be reached or dreams fulfilled.
Alisa McMorris spoke in Albany Tuesday: "1591 days ago on a crisp fall day in 2018, my 12-year-old son Andrew and his Boy Scout troop were struck by a drunk driver while hiking in Manorville, New York. The car veered off of the roadway striking each boy one after another, eventually striking Andrew, who was tossed into the air landing face down in front of my husband. The horror of that moment and the subsequent minutes were memorialized in a 911 call where I can hear my husband in the background and the muffled cries of the injured boys. This should never have happened," she said. "This was 100 percent avoidable. This must end."
McMorris said she has advocated for the bill for about four years and thanked Liu for reintroducing the bill and Simon for sponsoring the sister bill.
"We are not giving up," she said.
McMorris, her face wreathed in grief, continued: "Part of me died in the fall of 2018 with my son. And although I can find joy, I am filled with deep sadness that Andrew's death didn’t stop this from happening again— you see, I was naïve to think that our son's death would rock this world, and it would start major changes. I was horrified to know it did not, as was the case for my friend Juliana Salas who lost her 9-year-old to a drunk and impaired driver this past August. How many funny, talented kids, parents, friends and neighbors do we need to lose before we act?"
In her 2019 speech, McMorris quoted an NHTSA statistic that said that on average, one alcohol impaired driving death happened every 52 minutes.
"That statistic has changed dramatically since that time," she said. "It is now 1 drunk driving fatality every 45 minutes," she said. "We must do better."
McMorris also shared the enormity of her family's unthinkable loss.
"My family is forever broken after the loss of our 12-year-old son Andrew McMorris. I have a hole in my heart the exact shape and size of Andrew. Juliana has the same hole for Angel, as do many of these warriors that stand beside me today from the loss of a loved one who was ripped from this earth. Impaired driving leads to tragedy every single day on our roads and we all want to make our roads safer so no other family has to endure this 100 percent preventable loss."
“The science and data are clear as day: lowering the BAC to .05 saves lives," Liu said. "The best way to reduce the number of alcohol-related crashes and fatalities is to prevent people from drinking and driving. . . Over 100 countries around the world already have this law on the books and all of them have seen improvements, but only Utah has done it here in America. New York needs to lead this effort."
Simon said more than a third of crashes in New York State involve alcohol and the share of traffic deaths related to DWIs increased during the pandemic.
"However, there is a low-cost, straightforward policy change that will save lives — lowering the DWI threshold from .08 to .05 percent," Simon said.
Mothers Against Drunk Driving National President Tess Rowland added: “Lowering New York’s BAC to .05 is about saving lives and preventing injuries caused by alcohol-impaired driving, the leading killer on our roads. As we saw in Utah, a .05 BAC law encourages people to make other transportation plans when they are drinking — a much-needed behavior change."
Speaking with Patch after she returned from Albany, McMorris spoke of loss too enormous to imagine.
"In the first few days, months, weeks after Andrew was violently ripped from us, I really had no idea what life would look like in the 'after.' What became painfully clear is that there would always and forever be an empty seat at our table. That the pain would come randomly and overtake us like a rogue wave takes out a boat in the middle of the ocean. And that wave can hit those who loved Andrew at any time," she said.
"We went on a trip a few months ago and we were laughing and enjoying time together and suddenly, my niece got quiet, and I saw a tear roll down her cheek. She whispered in my ear, 'Andrew should be here. Aunt Alisa, my heart hurts.' Her whisper turned into sobs, and I held her tightly and we cried together. . . Yes, Andrew should be here. The ripple effect is clear — it impacts family near and far, friends and neighbors and deep parts of your body and soul that you didn’t even know existed — and it touches entire communities for years. "
McMorris said all parents have moments of fear for their children; for example, when they are driving a car or leaving for college.
"I can assure you that fear is multiplied by a million when you experienced sudden loss. But that doesn’t even come close to how it felt watching your child take his last breath because of something that was 100 percent preventable," McMorris said. "The years have softened our anxiety, but it is ever present and has altered us as the cellular level. We are forever changed in areas that you’d expect, but in other places you never imagined. The sun will still rise tomorrow, and a morning glow will touch our world, but there is still a dark shadow that follows us and always will."
In the long days after losing their beloved Andrew, the McMorris family has tried to still find joy. "The result is what we call 'soy,' sadness and joy, a feeling I never thought could co-exist. We try our best to turn our pain into purpose and fill our world with things that bring us Joy and activities that bring purpose," McMorris said.
That is why, she said, they created the Andrew McMorris Foundation in their boy's name and have events including "Andrew's Top Run", which will take place Saturday, March 25, in Calverton, honoring his 17th birthday. To sign up, click here.
They have also joined with MADDNY to help make meaningful changes in Albany, she said.
"We belong to a club no one ever wants to belong to. We witness each other's pain and grief as we try to find purpose again in parenting our children’s legacy," McMorris said.
On Tuesday in Albany, she said: "We stood together and told our stories to help people witness our pain to be compelled to act and support lifesaving, bipartisan bills that will make our roadways safer."
In Utah and 90 other European countries when a 0.5 percent BAC was enacted, a "dramatic decrease" in fatal DWI was seen across the board, she said. "The research is clear, it is proven, and evidence based .05 BAC will save lives. With the ongoing research it is getting harder and harder for the opposition to make any clear claims against it," she said.
According to NHTSA research after a .05 BAC law went into effect was in Utah, drunk driving crashes dropped 19.8 percent, McMorris said.
"Passage of this bill followed by Governor Hochul's signature will save more families the heartache of losing a loved one and make drunk driving a relic of the past," she said.